Sibling Rivalry
by MadelineSnape Esq
Summary: Rufus Strickland is bored & he finds the entertainment he desires in his 18 month old sister Alex. He steals her most important toy & refuses to give it back. Will someone come to save her or is she doomed to lose her toy? Mainly Strickland & his children, Sandra only makes an appearance. 2nd in my Alex series takes place before A Trip to the Zoo but it might help to read it first.


_Disclaimer- I own nothing I wish I did but I just get to play with the characters_

 **Sibling Rivalry**

Rufus Strickland was bored.

He sat on the living room floor watching his little sister Alex play with her toys.

He was very bored.

His father had told him to keep an eye on his baby sister while he was upstairs trying to fix a leaky faucet. But Rufus was bored watching her. She didn't do anything. He didn't want to play his video games or watch TV. With Alex around he was told he had to be careful what he watched. That didn't matter much because there wasn't anything good on anyway. And anything that might be interesting enough to catch his attention was not appropriate for the baby sitting across from him. He couldn't find anything to do and he was not about to do his homework it was Saturday afternoon after all.

Usually when he got bored he sought out his other sister. Hermione was always a good source of entertainment and if she wasn't teasing her was always fun for him. His little sister on the other hand was far less entertaining.

He picked up one of her plastic toys turning it over in his hands trying to figure out how she could find it entertaining.

"These are stupid baby toys" he cried in disgust as he threw it down on the carpet nearby. The little girl only looked up at him confused. "Your toys are stupid" he told her hoping to get some reaction out of her but it didn't work. So instead he moved and grabbed the toy she was playing with away from her. He was hoping she would get mad at him or try and take it back from him, but she didn't.

It was always so much harder to mess with his little sister. She rarely responded when he took toys away from her. She would just move on to another toy she never got upset. If he kept taking her toys she thought it was a game. He had even told his father that he thought something was wrong with her because she didn't seem to care. Robert Strickland was less than pleased with the boy's actions and told him in no uncertain terms to be nice to his sister.

But today Rufus didn't feel like listening to his father. Taking things away from Hermione always got a reaction but she was upstairs locked in her room. She had gotten the lead role of Wendy in their school play of Peter Pan and she was practicing her lines but she refused to do it in front of people. He thought that was stupid because she had to perform it in front of people. He told her this and the only response he recieved was her bedroom door slammed in his face. When he complained his father told him to find something productive to do. That led him to his other sister who was far less entertaining.

Instead of demanding her toy back Alex had moved on. Seeing she had her brother's attention she came over to him carrying a book. It was one of the big thick cardboard ones that took three minutes to actually read.

"Roo reed peease" she managed to get out thrusting the book at him. At eighteen months, the girl had mastered walking and her vocabulary was slowly growing every day.

"I don't want to Alex" he told her refusing to accept the book. She looked at him confused she had used the special word 'please' as her parents told her to do and she was not use to being refused in general. Her uncles were always happy to read to her and her parents read to her every night.

"Roo pppeease" she said repeating the magic word.

"Oh fine" he sighed loudly grabbing the book from her. He knew she would keep asking him until he agreed. "Come here then" he said pulling her to him. Once she was in his lap he began to read. As he read she started pointing out the animals to him. She loved animals and she was proud of all the names she knew. Rufus was not proud and it only annoyed him. It was stopping him from turning the page and finishing the book.

"This is stupid" he commented half way through the book but she ignored him and kept naming the animals on the pages. Animals were a current favorite of the little girl and most of the words she knew how to say were the names of animals, she loved to say them much to her brother's annoyance.

"Doggie…kitty…bunny"

"It says rabbit" he corrected her.

"Bunny" she insisted.

"Fine yes bunny" he sighed "can we just finish?"

"Tiger Roo Tiger" she squealed happily pointing at the animal.

"Yes that's right that is a tiger good job" he told her but his tone made it clear he was bored and didn't actually mean anything he just said. But Alex was too young to understand his tone of voice and she took it as encouragement to keep going. She proceeded to name every animal that she knew in the book much to his continued annoyance. He was very happy when they finally reached the end of the book. What should have taken five minutes to read had taken three times as long and he was just as bored as before they started.

"Reed" she cried excitedly once he closed the book.

"No" Rufus growled. "I don't want to, now go put it back." He ordered practically pushing her off his lap. She wasn't happy but she didn't argue as she did as she was told. He found it funny how easy she was to push around, he could get her to do almost anything. Except he couldn't get a rise out of her, much to his frustrations.

It was then he noticed her blanky on the sofa. It was one of those combo stuffed animal blankets. In the left corner, the head and arms of Peter Rabbit was attached to the soft white and blue material. The blanket was the one thing Alex currently took everywhere with her. His eyes lit up when he caught sight of it. He had finally found a way his sister could entertain him. Quickly he moved to the sofa and grabbed the blanket.

"Alex look what I have" he called out holding the blanket up by the rabbit head.

"Blanky" she squealed holding her hands out for it. People where often playing this way with her. She would laugh and smile gleefully and then they would hand her the blanket it was what she expected her brother to do but he didn't.

"No" he replied pulling it back close to him holding it tightly out of her reach. Her smile fell as she eyed her toy being withheld from her, that was not what was supposed to happen.

"Mine" she cried her face contorted to a glare. It reminded him of the look Sandra gave his dad when she was upset with him.

"No its mine now" he teased her with a smirk, elated that he had finally gotten a reaction from her.

"ROO No mine" she cried again holding out her hands still expecting him to hand over her blanket.

"Nope it is mine now. For-ev-er" he told her stretching out the last word.

"Roo mine" she yelled and moved toward him hands out trying to take it back from him.

"Not anymore" he said happily moving away from her. He was grinning at her thrilled with the entertainment he found.

"Mine" she cried louder and advanced towards him her arms still stretched out determined to take her blanket from him. He easily avoided her moving out of her reach once more. He moved around the room on his knees as she chased him trying to get her blanket back from him. As she chased him she continued to yell and cry at him becoming angry and frustrated. The more he moved away from her the louder her cries got and the louder she got the bigger his smile got. He was completely thrilled by her reaction.

After a few minutes his knees began to hurt and he was tired of running from her this way. At the same time Alex became frustrated and tired. It took the toddler a lot more work to chase after him, he was faster, stronger and bigger than her. Her little legs had to work twice as hard to keep up with him. She stopped chasing him and flopped down on the floor and continued to yell and cry at him making it clear to him she was very angry with him.

Rufus decided a new tactic was needed to continue this game. He stood up right in front of her and raised the blanket directly over her but well out of her reach. Her eyes followed the blanket and she stood up trying to get it.

"NO" she yelled when she realized she couldn't reach. "Mine gimmie" she screamed as she desperately tired to reach her blanket.

"It is mine now" he laughed, he was enjoying teasing his sister. Yet for all her yelling and screaming, she wasn't actually giving him as big of a reaction as his older sister did but Hermione did have a much larger vocabulary.

"Mine. Rooooooo. Nooooo." She cried as she reached for her blanket once more. The tears that had been threatening to fall for the last few minutes began to pool in her eyes and finally slid down her cheeks. Her blanket was clearly out of her reach and she was beyond angry and frustrated. Her little angelic face had been growing redder and redder as she became upset and very annoyed and now her angry tears mixed with her red cheeks as she became furious at her brother. She was not use to being teased and treated this way. The adults in her life would have never teased her this way and apart from her brother and sister the only children she played with were her own age. This was a new unpleasant experience for her and she didn't know what to do.

"Gimmie" she yelled at her brother once more.

"You want this?" he asked playing with her even further, her bright red face and tears only made him want to tease her more.

"Ya mine" she replied hopefully for a moment that he might give it back to her.

"Oh so you want this?" he asked again lowering the blanket so it was just out of her reach above her head. She tried in vain to reach and grab it but she still couldn't. She tried harder but her little legs were not developed enough and she hadn't learned to jump that high. Instead she stood there bouncing desperately trying to get her blanket screaming and crying when she still couldn't get it. Her breathing was becoming heavy from all the moving as well as from her tears and her anger.

"Mine Roo mine gimmie now" she screamed at him and ordered him, she was beyond frustrated and the tears kept falling.

"No" he replied firmly. Hermione would have called from mum or dad by now but Alex was too young to know how it worked and it was a lot more fun. He wanted to see how long she would go on for.

"ROOOOOOO" she cried her tears only managed to increase.

"I think I am going to keep this" he told her and he turned dramatically and took an exaggerated few steps away from her.

"Mine. Gimmie. Mine." She yelled trying to chase after him and her red face continued to be covered with tears. For a moment he considered stopping and giving her the blanket but he really wanted to see how far he could take this.

"It's mine now."

"Roo mine. Mine"

"Nope it isn't yours it's mine" he said cuddling it closer to him.

"NOOOOOOOO" she screamed as loud as she could the sight of him holding her most beloved possession so close pushed her over the edge. "MINE. GIMMIE. ROOOOOOOOOO. MINE. MINE." She continued yelling and she began stomping her feet. Her face was beyond red. She had never felt this angry, frustrated, and upset before and she didn't know what to do. She was no longer forming words as she yelled and cried sobbing at him.

* * *

Robert Strickland was sweaty, frustrated and a little tired as he came down the stairs. He had spent the last hour trying to get the shower faucet in the bathroom to stop dripping. He had been less than successful and to his dismay he was forced to give up and decided he needed to call a plumber. Sandra had run out to the stores to do some shopping. With Hermione in her room he had left Rufus to look after his little sister and he figured it was time to check on his two youngest children. But first he was desperate for a drink of water.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs he could hear his daughter's yells and cries. He couldn't make out exactly what she was saying but he did hear the words 'no' 'mine' and 'gimmie'. He heard his son's voice as well but he couldn't hear what he was saying either. Whatever it was it upset the little girl so much she began to wail and scream and cry. Strickland let out a sigh and picked up his pace, water would have to wait.

He entered the living room through the kitchen where he found his 18 month old daughter crying and yelling at her older brother. The source of her distress was clearly the blanket Rufus held away from the small child. What shocked him was the image he saw of his daughter. She was the picture of distress.

"Rufus" he growled moving towards them. At the sound of their father's voice both children looked up at him.

"Daddy" the little girl sobbed and held her hands out begging to be picked up as she moved towards him looking for comfort and relief.

"Come here sweetheart" he said calmly as he scooped her up and held her close cuddling his child. She looked even worse up close, her face was an angry crimson, red hot furious tears continued to slide down her cheeks and he could see sweat all over her forehead. For a moment he was glad her mother was not around. Sandra was the ultimate mama bear and she would have been furious. As it was he was livid at the situation and his son.

"Mine" Alex cried once more still trying to reach for her blanket which Rufus was still keeping out of her reach.

"Rufus stop right now, give it to your sister this instant." He ordered his son sternly. "Now" he added when he saw the boy hesitated.

"Okay fine" Roo sighed handing the blanket out to his sister. As soon as it was within her reach she grabbed it and held it close to her burying her head on her father's shoulder along with the blanket.

"Mine" she moaned into it.

"Yes that is yours" he assured her rubbing her back. "It's okay sweetheart everything is okay now" he told her as he continued to rub circles on her back. She was still crying a little and her breaths were coming out as hiccups. He knew he needed to focus on calming her down before she made herself sick. Her little face was an angry looking red and as he wiped a few tears away with his thumbs he could feel how warm her cheeks were. Heat was radiating off her whole face as though it were on fire. A new wave of anger washed over him and it was directed solely on his son. He wanted to reprimand Rufus immediately but he knew he needed to soothe his daughter first.

"You stay right there" he ordered his son pointing at the sofa and the boy knew better than to argue with his father, begrudgingly he sat down as he was told.

Mildly satisfied Strickland turned and carried the girl into the kitchen. Now that she had her blanket and was safely in her father's arms her tears had finally stopped. But she was still breathing very heavily and he could hear her pant trying to catch her breath from all her yelling and screaming. He was concerned about the color of her face and the heat rising from it. The sweat made it clear she was over heated and the blanket she held close could only be making her warmer, yet there was no way she would release it now. He needed some way to cool her down and the quicker the better. He grabbed one of her sippy cup and filled it with cold water hoping it would cool and calm her at the same time.

"Here you go darling drink this you have to be thirsty." He told her handing her the cup. Alex eagerly took it from him and drank the water as she continued to hold tight to her rabbit. She was quick to finish the water and he refilled the cup twice before she was done and handed the cup to her father again without a word.

"Finished?" he asked and she only nodded as she cuddled back into his arms. He set the cup down and looked her over. Her face was still red but not the extreme color it had been when he first picked her up. She appeared tired but other than that she was unscathed and was now relatively calm. "Right" he whispered to himself deciding it was the best he would get for the time being. He cuddled the little girl for a little while longer, kissed her forehead, and then carried her back to the living room with him. It was time to talk to her brother.

"Rufus come here" he called and the boy dutifully stood up and approached his father. "I think you owe your sister an apology for taking her blanket and teasing her" Strickland ordered his son sternly making it clear it was not optional.

"But dad we we're just playing" the boy moaned foolishly pushing his father.

"Rufus" he growled his anger growing once more. "You were playing? Look at your sister does it look like she thought you were playing?" He asked harshly looking down at his daughter her face still showed the evidence of her distress her little red cheeks had tear stains all over them. She looked miserable lying against his shoulder physically exhausted. He mentally berated himself for not splashing some cool water on her face while in the kitchen.

"No I guess we weren't play I was the one playing" the boy admitted quietly before biting his lip nervously.

"Then I think you need to apologize" he told Rufus once more.

"I'm sorry I took your blanky and wouldn't give it back. I didn't mean to make you cry." He said to his little sister. Strickland was convinced his son didn't truly mean much of what he had just said but he let it go for the moment. Alex just held her blanket tighter and stared at him.

"Well I'm not going to take it away from you again now" he exclaimed at her response.

"Rufus that's enough" Strickland cried he couldn't believe his son was acting this way.

"Well what am I suppose to say? I apologized and she just stairs at me" he huffed.

"She is only a year and a half and you took her most important possession away from her. What exactly where you expecting hugs and kisses? She is constantly watching learning and growing right now. And you just taught her not to trust you." He scoffed at his son, clearly the boy did not understand his little sister. "What you were doing was not an acceptable way of playing with Alex. I just don't understand Rufus why would you do that? Why would you tease her like that?" he asked glaring down at his son. He was still angry with the boy and the look on his face let him know it.

"I don't know its fun" he mumbled in reply.

"It's fun to make her cry?" Strickland asked surprised.

"Well no but it's fun to tease her" Roo explained.

"I just don't understand why, you do it to Hermione as well. Don't you have anything better than to be mean to your sisters?" he asked exasperated.

"I wasn't being mean I was playing with her" Rufus argued once more.

"Teasing her, taking away her favorite toy, making her cry is not playing with her that is called being mean to your sister." Robert reprimanded him curtly. He glanced down as his daughter her face was now a rosy pink which made her dried tears even more visible. She was still clinging tightly to him and her blanket afraid to let either of them go. He could not understand why his children couldn't just get along. Rufus couldn't seem to go more than a few hours without teasing or tormenting one or both of his sisters.

"Hey…what's going on?" Hermione asked walking in to the kitchen. She had come down to grab a bottle of water but stopped short when she caught sight of her father and brother. She could sense the tension meters away.

"Your brother decided it would be fun to take your sister's blanket and tease her." He told her making it clear to both his older children that type of action as not acceptable.

"Rufus loves to do stuff like that" Hermione replied giving her brother a look before she took a drink of water.

"You are just so easy to mess with" he countered.

"Rufus" he cried silencing them both. He looked between his three children, Hermione was not making the conversation easier, Rufus was clearly going to require a more thorough talking to. And then there was Alex, she was still hold tight to him but the rest of her body was lying limply in his arms exhausted from her ordeal. She needed a nap but she wasn't likely to fall asleep in his arms while he was yelling at Rufus. "Right, Hermione can you please take Alex upstairs to her room. Why don't you read her a story while I talk to Rufus" he suggested.

"Okay" Hermione agreed. He carefully handed the little girl over to her sister. To his great relief Alex didn't put up a fight instead she willingly let Hermione hold her.

"Mione one of her books please not your lines form the play please, she is still a little too young for Peter Pan" he warned her, the last thing he needed was for his other child to traumatize the little girl as well.

"Don't worry dad" she called as she carried her sister up the stairs. Once they were gone he turned his attention back to his son who was still standing in front of him.

"Why exactly do you enjoy teasing and torturing your sisters so much?" He asked folding his arms over his chest, he was getting tired of this behavior after so many repeat occasions over the past few years. This was not even the first time he had teased his little sister. Though this was the first time he had managed to get this big of a reaction out of her.

He remembered when Rufus was too afraid to even touch Alex for fear of making her cry or hurting her. Clearly his son had gotten over that fear as he didn't even care when he made her cry.

"I don't know I just like to, its fun" Roo replied looking at his fee.

"Why is it fun" he demanded.

"I'm not sure I'm just playing dad no one is getting hurt" the boy argued.

"You made your sister cry and you don't think she is getting hurt? Why would it be fun to make Alex cry?" He growled, he just didn't understand. Sure when he was younger he would fool around with his brothers but he didn't remember being deliberately mean like this.

"I don't know dad it just is I wasn't trying to be mean or hurt her. I was just trying to play I swear. She cries all the time I didn't think it really meant anything." He tried to explain to his father.

"I am sure there is something more entertaining you could be doing" Strickland replied sternly.

"No there isn't I'm bored" the boy moaned.

"What about your video games or the television?" he asked his son. If he had threatened to take either of those away from him Rufus would have acted as if he were dying. Yet now he didn't want to use either.

"No" Roo replied petulantly.

"What about your homework?" he asked he did not appreciate the attitude he was receiving from the boy.

"There is no way I'm doing my homework its Saturday" he cried at the idea.

"Then why don't you go outside" Robert sighed he was getting tired of his son being a pain.

"And do what?" Rufus whinged.

"If you can't find something to do I will find you something." He warned the boy, he was tired of him complaining and being mean to his sisters. And if he wouldn't fix himself and do something less destructive on his own he would find something for his son to do and he wasn't going to like it.

"What am I suppose to do?" the boy cried not picking up on his father's displeasure.

"I want you to go outside in the garden it is a nice day you should be outside." He told his son restraining his anger and frustration.

"There isn't anything to do out there" Roo whined and flopped down on the sofa.

"Fine you want something to do you can go out and pull all the weeds in the garden." He growled losing his patience and following through on his threat with the first thing that came to him.

"What seriously?" his son cried looking up at him in shock.

"Yes" Strickland replied firmly.

"But dad" he moaned.

"NO don't dad me, out you go" he told the boy pointing toward the door.

"Do I have too?" Rufus complained once more he still hadn't moved from his spot on the sofa.

"Yes up now" he ordered. "Maybe you will think about this the next time you decide it will be fun to tease and torture your sisters. Now go and don't forget I can see you from in here." He continued pointing at the door again giving the boy no more room to argue.

"Fine" he whinged as he found his shoes and opened the door.

"I am going up to check on your sisters when I get back down I better see you pulling weeds." He ordered his son warning him at the same time. The boy didn't respond he just walked out the door slamming it behind him. Strickland shook his head but let it go, reprimanding Roo for his harsh treatment of the door was not worth another argument. He didn't actually know if there were any weeds in the garden but he didn't much care. It was the first think that flew into his mine and he was sticking by it. Rufus would spend enough time trying to figure out what was in the garden that he would tire himself a little, which was all Robert wanted anyway. The boy was likely to find anything out there, he and Sandra didn't spend much time looking after it. Sandra might plant a little in the spring but that was as far as it went.

Strickland reached his youngest daughter's bedroom and peered in quietly. It was silent and he found Hermione in the rocking chair with Alex asleep in her arms. The scene was so cute he wished he had a camera. When Mione caught sight of her father her eyes went wide with panic.

"Dad how do I get her in there without waking her?" she asked desperately indicating towards the nearby cot.

"Here I got her" he smiled at her and took the baby out of her arms and carefully carried her to the cot. The two then quietly left the room and Robert grabbed the baby monitor as he went.

"Thanks dad I was afraid I would be stuck there till she woke up" Hermione sighed gratefully.

"Alex is use to being moved while asleep. How long has she been out?" he asked.

"She fell asleep a few minutes after we sat down" she informed him.

"I'm sure Roo managed to tired her out."

"Yeah well I'm going back to my lines." She told him heading towards her room.

"Have fun" he called after her.

* * *

When Sandra walked into the kitchen carrying her shopping bags she found Strickland sitting on one of the stools drinking a beer and watching a football match.

"Hello" she called setting the bags down.

"Hi, you need help?" he asked looking at all the bags.

"No I'm okay" she assured him putting a few things away.

"I called the plumber" he informed her.

"Couldn't get it fixed?"

"Nope nothing I tried worked, for all our sanity I gave up and called. He'll be out on Monday afternoon. I'll run home early and hopefully it won't take too long to fix the drip."

"And we can actually sleep without the radio on" she sighed coming to stand next to him and taking a drink of his beer. "What exactly is Rufus doing out in the garden?" She asked when she looked out the window and caught sight of the boy on his hands and knees in the dirt.

"Weeding" he replied looking out at his son.

"Does he know what a weed looks like cause I think he just pulled a geranium… that's in the process of dying I believe. And its September" she asked him confused by the whole situation.

"Does it matter? Do you really care?" he asked her honestly.

"No not really but why is he out in the dirt?" she asked still confused.

"He was bored" he answered.

"So you sent him out to torture the flowers?" she asked with a small laugh.

"Better than terrorizing Alex" he informed her. He was a little apprehensive to tell her about the afternoon's events he didn't really know how she would react.

"Well yes, it is, I feel I am missing part of the story. Why and how was he terrorizing her?" She asked more confused than concerned as she took another drink of her beer.

"I came down here to get some water and call the plumber and found Rufus with Alex's blanky teasing her and refusing to give it back. I have no idea how long it has been going on for but Alex was so upset her face was all red and she was sobbing." He informed her hitting the important parts.

"Poor bug" she sighed. She couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for not being around to comfort her daughter. She was not happy with Roo but it was not worth getting upset over.

"Yes I quickly put a stop to it which calmed Alex. I got her to drink some water and cool down. According to Rufus he finds it fun to torture his sisters and since Hermione is locked in her room he turned his sights on Alex.

"Well he is a nine year old boy I'm not surprised, I'm not happy either" she admitted.

"Thankfully Mione came down and I sent her up to read Alex a story, while I questioned Roo further. He couldn't tell me why it was fun it just was. Sometimes I don't know about him." He sighed as he tried to explain the events she had missed.

"How did the whole gardening thing come about? Are you trying to punish him?" she asked.

"Not exactly, I did not appreciate his attitude while I was trying to help him find something to occupy his time. I warned him that if he didn't find something to do I would. He pushed me on it so I sent him out to pull weeds." He told her firmly.

"Do we have weeds?"

"Don't know it didn't really matter, its giving him something to do. And I told him to think about this next time he wants to bother one of his sisters. It would be nice if he would stop tormenting Hermione all the time."

"I don't think one afternoon of gardening will stop the genetic predisposition to annoy his siblings." She replied with another laugh.

"Yeah you're probably right" he said with another sigh.

"I usually am. So where is Alex? I assume Lady Macbeth is still locked in her room" she asked him.

"She fell asleep while Hermione was reading to her" he answered.

"How long ago was that?"

"About an hour and a half, I was planning on going up when the match is over" he informed her pointing to the TV.

"I'll go up in a minute" she countered, she was eager to hold her daughter and after the day's event she wanted to give her some extra cuddles. "So what are we going to do when Rufus tears out all the flowers?" she continued with a laugh.

"Well in two weeks when he terrorizes his sisters again we'll just make him plant some new one" he replied with a grin.

A/N Just a bit of fluff and fun, thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it. Also thank you for the reviews from the previous story they were very nice!


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